Proper effort is not the effort to make something particular happen. It is the effort to be aware and awake each moment, the effort to overcome laziness and merit, the effort to make each activity of our day meditation.
Interpretation
True effort is about mindfulness and presence rather than merely achieving specific outcomes.
In this quote, Ajahn Chah emphasizes that the essence of proper effort lies in being aware and present in each moment, rather than just striving for particular achievements. It suggests that genuine effort involves overcoming complacency and turning daily activities into a form of meditation, highlighting the importance of mindfulness in our actions.
In practice
A motivational speaker might use this quote to encourage mindfulness in the workplace.
Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You'll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free.
When sitting in meditation, say, "That's not my business!" with every thought that comes by.
If you haven't wept deeply, you haven't begun to meditate.
To observe and watch one's own mind is something really interesting. The untrained mind will run and follow its old habit patterns. Because it has not been trained and taught, it will get lost in all kinds of stories and issues. Therefore we have to train our mind. The meditation practice in Buddhism is all about training one's own mind.
Meditation is like a single log of wood. Insight and investigation are one end of the log; calm and concentration are the other end. If you lift up the whole log, both sides come up at once. Which is concentration and which is insight? Just this mind.
The heart is just the heart; thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. Let things be just as they are.
Take your work seriously, but never yourself.
The past tempts us, the present confuses us, and the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast terrible in-between. But there is still time to seize that one last fragile moment.
Mother, who has an absolute belief that it is not the cards that one is dealt in life, it is how one plays them, is, by far, the highest card I was dealt.
Receive what cheer you may. The night is long that never finds the day.
It is a far worthier thing to read by the light of experience than to adorn oneself with the labors of others.
Money is like manure. It stinks when you pile it; it grows when you spread it
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